Who's Winning Game of Thrones Season 3?

More than anything else, Game of Thrones is a show about obtaining power (hence the title). Since we are nearing the end of Season 3, let’s take a look at the contenders for the lead right now.

Joffrey Baratheon. The petulant king seems like an obvious choice. He is after all still king of the Seven Kingdoms, Protector or The Realm, blah blah blah. Here’s the thing though: half the Seven Kingdoms are currently at war with him, and refuse to recognize him as king. Not only that, but it’s debatable that he’s even the one calling the shots these days. Which brings us to...

Tywin Lannister. The Hand of the King is more or less acting as the king himself these days, as he is the chief decision-maker in King’s Landing. He’s the richest man in Westeros (as far as we know) and is currently cementing his power by playing matchmaker with virtually everyone he sees (Cersei, Tyrion, Littlefinger). We think even Joffrey is starting to figure out who’s really in charge after Grampy Lannister essentially told him to leave the governing to the grownups right on the steps of the Iron Throne. However, not everyone is on board with Lannister rule. Especially...

RobbStark. The King in the North isn’t looking quite as powerful at this point as he was in the past, now that half his men have left him following the Karstark execution. With the recent news that he has a baby on the way, it seems like Robb will be even more distracted from winning the war than he was before. If there’s one thing Robb doesn’t need, it’s another major setback, so he’s hoping his uncle’s upcoming nuptials will turn the tide. Oh Robb, you should have known defeating the Lannisters wouldn’t be so easy. Just ask...

Stannis Bartheon. The lone surviving Baratheon brother is pretty down on his luck these days. Pretty much all he does is mope around Dragonstone after his defeat at King’s Landing. But let’s not forget, Stannis has a secret weapon, and her name is Melisandre. The red priestess is capable of some pretty crazy stuff, and she has shown she can turn the tide in a battle with nothing but a well-timed pregnancy (just ask Renly). Now that she is in possession of Gendry, we have a feeling things may be looking up for Stannis. Speaking of looking up, there’s an army of Wildlings coming over the Wall...

Mance Rayder. The King Beyond the Wall has an army of thousands of Wildlings who are united in a common goal: get south or die. Due to the threat of the White Walkers, Mance doesn’t have to worry about a lot of infighting and political drama like the armies in the Seven Kingdoms do. Unless of course there’s someone within his ranks who means to bring them down from within (cough, Jon Snow, cough). Mance also has a few giants in his employ, which is undeniably awesome, but even Mance would admit that giants don’t hold a candle to dragons...

Daenerys Khaleesi has really come into her own of late. Her dragons have grown to the point where they can wipe out an entire city like Astapor, and she just gained an army of 8,000 superb fighters who are devoted to her because she granted them their freedom. She also has one of the greatest knights of all time on her side in Barristan Selmy, so that sure doesn’t hurt. While Daenerys doesn’t actually rule over anything other than her followers yes, we feel that could change soon enough as she continues to sweep through Essos gaining power.

Who do you think has the most power right now? Sound off in the comments below!

Catch the next episode of Game of Thrones on Sunday, May 19 at 9 p.m. ET/PT on HBO.